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Film
Friday, November 6 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
Setting up easy targets, The Men Who Stare at Goats seems less clever than behind the times.
By Chris Barsanti
Endgame crafts a crackling thriller out of the tangle of crafty maneuvering and happenstance that put a stop to South Africa's apartheid.
By Cynthia Fuchs
Where is Fox Mulder when you need him?
By Cynthia Fuchs
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is concerned with lasting effects -- on individuals and especially, on communities.
By Chris Barsanti
The combination of animation (where the laws of physics are conveniently suspended) and 3D technology is a powerful temptation, and here we see many of the ways in which those toys can be misued.
By Renee Scolaro Mora
Even as Gentlemen Broncos makes sport of artistic hacks, it also delights in their creative process.
Thursday, November 5 2009
By Jesse Hassenger
The many makers of New York, I Love Youare collectively too self-conscious about the New Yorkiness of their task.
By Cynthia Fuchs
It's all but impossible to represent randomness. And yet this is the task taken up by Act of God, Jennifer Baichwal's documentary on lightning.
Wednesday, November 4 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
Work is at the center of Frederick Wiseman's absorbing documentary, La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet.
Monday, November 2 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
Full of tension, the first scene in The Maid (La Nana) sets up Raquel's grim and limited world.
By Cynthia Fuchs
A treasure hunter who has travelled far and wide looking for long-lost fortunes, Lance Larson's questing serves as point of departure for the beguiling documentary, Loot.
Friday, October 30 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
While Sam's retaliation offers its own pleasures, her fundamental good-girlness, like Laurie Strode's or Rosemary Woodhouse's, also makes her abuse seem broadly meaningful.
By Cynthia Fuchs
Labor Day celebrates the work of SEIU toward getting Barack Obama elected.
Wednesday, October 28 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
As much as This Is It recalls Jackson's genius, it perpetuates the exploitation that shaped his life.
Monday, October 26 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
The Most Dangerous Man in America traces Daniel Ellsberg's decision to release the Pentagon Papers, as it also raises questions concerning government and citizens' responsibilities and rights.
Friday, October 23 2009
By Todd R. Ramlow
Antichrist in many ways seems Lars Von Trier's rejoinder to the criticism that he "hates women," as if daring us to watch what we expect to see.
By Cynthia Fuchs
Amelia provides only a cursory look at Earhart's commercialization, more a way to delineate her marriage troubles than investigate her self-image or her treatment as a pop star.
By Cynthia Fuchs
Not a thing in this movie is subtle, from its cheesy special effects to its by-the-numbers storyline to its cardboard cutout characters.
Thursday, October 22 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
The notion of romance -- elusive and resonant -- may be the most productive way to think about the relationship between Julius Shulman's photos and their architectural objects.
Tuesday, October 20 2009
By Cynthia Fuchs
Still Bill underscores that Bill Withers and others were advised on how to sell their "blackness," a concept premised on adhering to white conventions and mainstream expectations.
more  Features
Friday, November 6 2009
By Alistair Dickinson
These five films from the golden-era of the legendary Nikkatsu studio shows off the never-ending ways Japanese filmmakers were able to combine the best elements of pulp and epic Japanese storytelling.
Friday, October 30 2009
By Stephen Rylance
Despite the efforts of some to dismiss it as a prank, Antichrist is a serious film and its disturbing extremes speak of broad and deeply felt moral, social, and ultimately, political anxieties.
Monday, October 26 2009
By Chris Milam
Natalie Portman popped headphones onto Zach Braff's head and said, "This song will change your life." The resulting sound was not only that of carefully composed dullness, but of a million wealthy white kids investing in dull acoustic music to soundtrack their own romantic melodrama.
Monday, November 2 2009
By Monte Williams
More surprising than the still-impressive special effects and the jokes that hold up to modern scrutiny is the fact that there are moments throughout Ghostbusters that are legitimately scary.
(more Lowbrow Literati)
Thursday, October 29 2009
By Chris Justice
To paraphrase Nietzsche, when fighting monsters one should be careful not to become one, but that’s a major reason why many people fish: to slay the proverbial dragon.
(more The Tackle Box)
Wednesday, October 28 2009
By Jennifer Makowsky
No matter the vercity of the tale, The Haunting in Connecticut has just enough creep quotient to keep me engaged, especially since I grew up a few miles from the house.
(more The Box Office Belletrist)
more DVD Reviews
Friday, November 6 2009
By Chadwick Jenkins
In Hitchcock's world, we don't write the play; we just have to know when to act.
By Bill Gibron
it's safe to say that John Hughes has a secure legacy in Hollywood laughfests. No matter the age bracket, this film stands as one of his very best.
Thursday, November 5 2009
By David Camak Pratt
Unlike Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees, the monstrous title character of The Stepfather is both plausible and a rich metaphor.
Monday, November 2 2009
By Ben Travers
Money makes The Taking of Pelham 123 shine, but no amount of cash can buy creativity.
Friday, October 30 2009
By Jake Meaney
Sam Raimi’s attempted return to the horror/comedy genre that was his stock in trade for the early part of his career is neither particularly horrific nor all that funny.
Friday, November 6 2009
Thursday, November 5 2009
Wednesday, November 4 2009
Tuesday, November 3 2009
Monday, November 2 2009
Friday, November 6 2009
Thursday, November 5 2009
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